How to live with a service dog

Lying to myself is working

There are just some days that I just don’t want to do anything at all. I don’t want to work on the deck. I don’t want to repot a plant, work in the garden, trim the “lawn”, put up a piece of drywall, pick up trash, clean the cabin, or put in any insulation. I don’t want to watch TV, make food, play on the computer, I don’t even want to go back to bed. There is just nothing that I WANT to do, but I feel restless, like I should be doing something.

My brother, Bob, explained this to me. He said he just lies to himself. He tells himself he is just going to do one thing. If it’s trash day, he is only going to gather up the trash and take it to the curb. That’s all he is going to do. When he does that, he lies to himself and says he is just going to do the dishes, that is all. Then he isn’t going to do anything else. And so his day goes.

I tend to do this accidently. I tell myself that today, I’m just going to focus on one thing, like sweep up all of Trotz’s dog hair. But before that, I need to gather up all the clothes I left on the floor. I take them out to the washer and it seems stupid not to go ahead and run a load of clothes. If I notice the laundry soap is low, I hunt down the ingredients and make more soap. If there isn’t enough to make a load of clothes, I search for more clothes, rags, and towels to add. While I’m there, I should just wipe down the machine real quick, and so my day goes. I generally forget to sweep the floor though.

It backfires on me occasionally. I don’t want to start anything at all today, lol. This is where Trotz becomes really handy to have around. He is like my jumper cables, connecting my energy to a task. There are just things he has to have done. He has to go for a walk, so I may as well haul the empty trash can back up to the house with me. He has to have yard time, so I may as well trim down the areas under his runners. He is all itchy, so I may as well give him a bath before applying his flea meds, which leads to laundry, lol. He needs a wading pool, so I may as well measure out the pool size and clear a spot to put it. And so it goes.

Trotz sometimes gets needs mixed up with wants in the hopes that it will work. He is currently in the kitchen area, staring hard at a box of pasta. He is pretty sure he needs me to make him some pasta. I think Trotz lies to himself too.